When it Happens

Chapter 13

CHAPTER UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 And when I walked into school the next morning, I saw Nate scavenging through his locker and walked up to him.

"Hey, you! What's up?"

He stopped looking in his locker and looks up at me, giving me a confused glance. He tilts his head as he answered, "I'm fine, Vivian. How are you?"

"Great. How's football season been going?"

"Football season ended in December."

I pursed my newly coated red lips together. Guess a lot of time had passed between us. "Oh. Well, how's the family doing?"

He shook his head. He placed a hand against the locker next to his and uses that to prop himself up. His green eyes look down at me when he said, "Wait, hold on. Vivian, why are you acting like this?"

"What do you mean? I'm acting like a friend."

His eyes widened. "And what exactly were you acting like before?"

I looked down, clutching the books to my chest as tight as I could. I couldn't exactly say, "a lovesick puppy," so I just shrugged.

"I don't want the friendly 'Vivian'. I want the goofy one. The one I got all of last semester." He shut his locker, grabbing the books he needed before saying, "Look. I know we had a really long hiatus, and you saw me in my worst form that day at the laundromat. But nothing's changed between us, Viv. No need to act all awkward."

Woah, woah woah. What the hell did he mean by, "nothing's changed between us?" I would have liked to think him and I had each matured since we both met. For example, while I still found him really hot, I no longer worshipped him. And who the hell knew his feelings for me. I didn't know him well enough to know what was flirting for him or just simply being nice.

I stayed quiet as he filled the silence, lightly placing a hand on my shoulder. "I've gotta go to class. I'll see ya in History."

What the hell was that! I definitely didn't act like I usually did with Nate. I didn't know what I was thinking. But to be honest, this is how I acted to all my friends. Not goofy, but friendly. What Nate called goofy, I called madly in love with. 

Or maybe I was just being myself.

"I found out what's up with your little boyfriend."

"Nate! I thought you said you'd give him a break." Steam was blowing out of my ears. He told me he'd shut up about him!

"I know I did. But I recognized him from somewhere. I remembered seeing him on the news a while back." He looked around the room to make sure no one was listening in and lowered his voice. "He raped a girl, but since he was an intense athlete, he only got a year in prison and academic expulsion."

"Nate, that's ridiculous. How would you even know?"

"Research. I also had to sleep with his sister to get it out of her."

My heart was pounding out of my chest, but I still tried to deny it. I also couldn't help it when my body tensed up when he said he slept with another girl. "Nate, you're disgusting, and you're a liar. St. Agnes is an elite Catholic school. They wouldn't let a rapist in their school."

He sighed and shook his head. "That's why he changed his name! I can't believe you. Don't you believe me? His own sister told me, for fucks sakes!"

"Quite frankly, no. I think you're just jealous."

He chuckled. "Me? Jealous? You really are crazy."

Okay. That made my heart break in half, but it's not like I hadn't known that before.

I couldn't stop thinking about the argument for the rest of the day, 

Shannon was my guardian angel. No doubt. I could give you an example, too. It was a morning, a couple weeks after my father died. My mom had to take Bobby to his flag football practice, and my mom allowed me to invite Shannon over since I would be home alone.

I walked through the dining room after coming back in from the garage, and I was face to face with the liquor cabinet. I stood there for a minute, just glaring at all that alcohol. I don't know what possessed me, but I started shaking and crying, grabbing and throwing all the liquor bottles my tiny sixth-grader hands could get on. I kept yelling, "You killed my father! You killed my father!"

I would've kept going had I not heard a doorbell ring. I opened the door and hugged her, sobbing. She helped me clean everything up and made sure that I knew everything was going to be okay. Ever since then, I gave her the key to my house and we've never brought up the subject.

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